Dataset Information

Inpatient Care during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Survey of Italian Physicians.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a potentially fatal disease that is of great global public health concern.

Objective

We explored the clinical management of inpatients with COVID-19 in Italy.

Methods

A self-administered survey was sent by email to Italian physicians caring for adult patients with COVID-19. A panel of experts was selected according to their clinical curricula and their responses were analyzed.

Results

A total of 1,215 physicians completed the survey questionnaire (17.4% response rate). Of these, 188 (15.5%) were COVID-19 experts. Chest computed tomography was the most used method to detect and monitor COVID-19 pneumonia. Most of the experts managed acute respiratory failure with CPAP (56.4%), high flow nasal cannula (18.6%), and non-invasive mechanical ventilation (8%), while an intensivist referral for early intubation was requested in 17% of the cases. Hydroxychloroquine was prescribed as an antiviral in 90% of cases, both as monotherapy (11.7%), and combined with protease inhibitors (43.6%) or azithromycin (36.2%). The experts unanimously prescribed low-molecular-weight heparin to patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia, and half of them (51.6%) used a dose higher than standard. The respiratory burden in patients who survived the acute phase was estimated as relevant in 28.2% of the cases, modest in 39.4%, and negligible in 9%.

Conclusions

In our survey some major topics, such as the role of non-invasive respiratory support and drug treatments, show disagreement between experts, likely reflecting the absence of high-quality evidence studies. Considering the significant respiratory sequelae reported following COVID-19, proper respiratory and physical therapy programs should be promptly made available.

SUBMITTER: Attanasi M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7949238 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Inpatient Care during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Survey of Italian Physicians.

Attanasi Marina M Pasini Simone S Caronni Antonio A Pellegrino Giulia Michela GM Faverio Paola P Di Pillo Sabrina S Cimino Matteo Maria MM Cipolla Giuseppe G Chiarelli Francesco F Centanni Stefano S Sferrazza Papa Giuseppe Francesco GF

Respiration; international review of thoracic diseases 20200805 8

<h4>Background</h4>Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a potentially fatal disease that is of great global public health concern.<h4>Objective</h4>We explored the clinical management of inpatients with COVID-19 in Italy.<h4>Methods</h4>A self-administered survey was sent by email to Italian physicians caring for adult patients with COVID-19. A panel of experts was selected according to their clinical curricula and their responses were analyzed.<h4>Results</h4>A total of 1,215 physicians compl ...[more]

PMID: 32756065

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundGeneralized restriction of movement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, together with unprecedented pressure on the health system, has disrupted routine care for non-COVID-19 patients. Telemedicine should be vigorously promoted to reduce the risk of infections and to offer medical assistance to restricted patients.ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to understand physicians' attitudes toward and perspectives of telemedicine during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, in order to provide support for better implementation of telemedicine.MethodsWe surveyed all physicians (N=148), from October 17 to 25, 2020, who attended the clinical informatics PhD program at West China Medical School, Sichuan University, China. The physicians came from 57 hospitals in 16 provinces (ie, municipalities) across China, 54 of which are 3A-level hospitals, two are 3B-level hospitals, and one is a 2A-level hospital.ResultsAmong 148 physicians, a survey response rate of 87.2% (129/148) was attained. The average age of the respondents was 35.6 (SD 3.9) years (range 23-48 years) and 67 out of 129 respondents (51.9%) were female. The respondents come from 37 clinical specialties in 55 hospitals located in 14 provinces (ie, municipalities) across Eastern, Central, and Western China. A total of 94.6% (122/129) of respondents' hospitals had adopted a telemedicine system; however, 34.1% (44/129) of the physicians had never used a telemedicine system and only 9.3% (12/129) used one frequently (≥1 time/week). A total of 91.5% (118/129) and 88.4% (114/129) of physicians were willing to use telemedicine during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, respectively. Physicians considered the inability to examine patients in person to be the biggest concern (101/129, 78.3%) and the biggest barrier (76/129, 58.9%) to implementing telemedicine.ConclusionsTelemedicine is not yet universally available for all health care needs and has not been used frequently by physicians in this study. However, the willingness of physicians to use telemedicine was high. Telemedicine still has many problems to overcome.

Project description:BackgroundSocial restrictions due to COVID-19 might have had a significant impact on mental health. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of four emotional domains (nervousness, anger, numbness, physiological arousal) in a sample of citizens during the first pandemic wave in 2020, and their association with sociodemographic characteristics, housing conditions and lifestyle modifications.MethodsA cross-sectional study based on a self-administered online questionnaire was set up to investigate emotions. Respondents were recruited through a non-probabilistic snowball sampling approach. The SPAN questionnaire was used to measure emotions in the interviewed population. The association between emotions and independent variables (gender, age, marital status, educational level, working condition, housing condition, COVID-19 positivity, sleep disturbance, increase in alcohol consumption and decrease in physical activity) was assessed through the multivariate Poisson regression.ResultsA total of 6,675 subjects were included in the analysis. Almost half of respondents (48.9%) experienced nervousness, 41.3% anger, 15.6% numbness and 18.8% physiological arousal. Females were more likely to face nervousness, anger and physiological arousal. For all the outcomes a decreasing trend was observed from younger to older. Singles were more likely to experience numbness compared to married people. Increase in alcohol consumption was associated with nervousness, anger and numbness. Decrease in physical activity was associated with nervousness, anger and physiological arousal. Restless sleep was the variable most associated with all emotional domains.ConclusionsThe first COVID-19 pandemic wave had a significant emotional impact on this sample, especially among younger people, singles and females. Even without reaching clinical relevance, these emotions could represent a form of psychological distress, which requires the implementation of preventive strategies, in particular regarding lifestyle care.

Dataset Information

Inpatient Care during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Survey of Italian Physicians.

Background

Objective

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Inpatient Care during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Survey of Italian Physicians.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets